On the afternoon of August 3, Beijing time, the table tennis WTT Tunisia Competition ushered in the first day of competition, the two direct players of the national table tennis Zhao Zihao and Xue Fei appeared in the men's doubles event to meet a pair of opponents with superior strength, that is, the Swedish combination Falke/Carlsson, which defeated four national table tennis world champions (Fan Zhendong/Wang Chuqin, Liang Jingkun/Lin Gaoyuan) last year and won the men's doubles gold medal at the World Table Tennis Championships.
In this battle, although Zhao Zihao/Xue Fei was inferior in ranking and results, he gave full play to the advantages of the ingenuity, agility and rushing of the straight-shot play, and each game was backward at the beginning, but it was reversed many times, and finally eliminated the opponent 3-1 with a big score, and eliminated the world champion to advance, which was really fantastic: congratulations to the Chinese team!
Friends who pay attention to table tennis know that the advantage of national table tennis in the men's doubles event has decreased sharply in recent years, and it has suffered defeats in international competitions such as the World Table Tennis Championships, losing a lot of foreign wars, and only one pair of combinations in Tunisia has the participation of main athletes, that is, Lin Gaoyuan / Zhou Qihao, the result is that Zhou Qihao withdrew, and finally only the non-main force was left to pick the beam, which is indeed more fierce and less auspicious.
Sure enough, after the game began, Zhao Zihao/Xue Fei started unfavorably and was suppressed by Fark/Carlson. However, in the face of difficulties, the two direct shooters quickly and conveniently used their playing skills to contain the opponent's large force attack, won with ingenuity, and successfully achieved a reversal, but the opposite was after all a world champion combination, and soon chased the score to 10-10 draw.
At the critical moment at the end of the first set, Zhao Zihao/Xue Fei won the initiative with excellent in-stage swing and control, continuously forcing Falk/Carlsson to make mistakes in returning the ball, playing the near-stage advantage of the straight-shot player, and then scoring 2 consecutive points and winning the first place with a thrilling 12-10 thrill, it was not easy to win!
In the second set, the Swedish combination started to lead again, but then was broken by Zhao Zihao/Xue Fei's straight-pat cross-play technology, some inaccuracies in rotation, frequent mistakes, but the two sides were still evenly matched, once again fought to the point of 10-10 draw, and then played to 12-12, the national table tennis coach hurriedly called out a timeout, obviously wanting to make a quick decision and force the opponent into a desperate situation.
After returning to the field, Zhao Zihao/Xue Fei did not disappoint, scoring 2 points in a row and then taking a 14-12 next city, with a 2-0 lead in sight. In the third set, Falke/Carlsson was tied again with a starting lead, but this time the duo finally stabilized their positions and pulled back a city at 11-7, avoiding the point of being swept 3-0 by the national table tennis players.
In the fourth set, Falke/Carlsson's morale increased greatly, and after continuously suppressing Zhao Zihao/Xue Fei, he won multiple innings, and the result was chased to 8-10 by the other side, at this time, the Swedish combination was also a little panicked, and soon called out a timeout to adjust - no way, if you lose again, you will be finished.
After returning to the battle, Zhao Zihao/Xue Fei scored again, chasing a 10-10 draw. At the crucial moment, Falke/Carlsson failed to stop their rout, and finally lost the whole game 10-12, and the upset was eliminated in the first round, which was really unexpected!
The performance of the national table tennis combination in this competition is indeed remarkable, in the face of the world champion combination with superior strength, Zhao Zihao / Xue Fei fully promotes the strengths and avoids the weaknesses, so that the two opponents with tall arms and lengths have nowhere to go, playing the characteristics of direct shooting, and winning with small fights, it is really good: straight shooting is not dead, and we look forward to everyone continuing to achieve good results!